The American League Central is there for the taking.
Or so it would appear with the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers and — depending on your point of view after another lackluster performance Tuesday — White Sox all in the hunt and none standing out.
The Sox haven’t asserted themselves in the division this season or much at all since their last playoff appearance in 2008, though, and there’s dwindling evidence they are equipped to do it in 2016. An 11-8 loss Tuesday before 17,403 fans at U.S. Cellular Field dropped the Sox to 11-15 in the division, a record enhanced only by a 6-0 record against the lowly Minnesota Twins.
The Sox are 2-7 against the Royals, 1-4 against the Tigers and 2-4 against the Indians, which shows where they stand among their peers, and this is nothing new — their record against the AL Central is 237-304 since 2009. Their only winning record in the division since 2008 came in 2012, manager Robin Ventura’s first season, when they were 37-35 but faded late after
being in first place for 126 days.
‘‘It’s a tough division,’’ Ventura said. ‘‘You look at the pitching that’s there, some of the offenses you run into. . . . They’re good teams.’’
It will be tough if the Sox don’t get better pitching than they’ve had against the Tigers, who pinned seven runs on starter James Shields on Monday and another seven on Miguel Gonzalez on Tuesday.
“It’s frustrating,’’ Gonzalez (1-2, 4.74 ERA) said. “We put up eight runs and don’t get the win. “First couple innings you try and set the tone and early in the game it didn’t happen.’’
The Sox gave Gonzalez a 2-1 lead in the first, thanks to the first of leadoff man Tim Anderson’s two doubles, Adam Eaton’s bunt single and Eaton’s elusive headfirst slide on Melky Cabrera’s short sacrifice fly to right fielder J.D. Martinez.
Flashing speed and energy, the Sox had the crowd into the game early. But Gonzalez and his control problems and a second shaky defensive performance in as many nights by right fielder Avisail Garcia in an unsightly third gave the Tigers a 6-2 lead.
“Yeah, that one,’’ Ventura said. “We had a couple go in the gap yesterday and the one down the line.’’
Gonzalez walked four (one intentionally) and forced in two runs with walks, and Garcia let a fly ball by Miguel Cabrera drop for a double near the foul line.
The Sox’ outfield defense has been in disarray since center fielder Austin Jackson went down with a knee injury last week. Eaton — who was playing like an All-Star candidate in right — was forced back to center, and Garcia has continued to get the bulk of the playing time in right, even though J.B. Shuck and Jason Coats seem to be better alternatives defensively.
‘‘He’s just going to have to work on [his defense],’’ Ventura said of Garcia, who was a full-time designated hitter before Jackson’s injury. ‘‘He’s going to have to get better and find a way to get past that.’’
The Sox can’t afford to give away runs if they expect to be a factor in the division, and Ventura said “there’s a possibility” Shuck will see time in right. Meanwhile, general manager Hahn will look to explore ways to shore up a lacking roster. When the Sox acquired Shields from the San Diego Padres, one rumor had center fielder Jon Jay being part of the deal.
Say this for the Sox, they continue to scrap. A night after coming back from 7-0 down, they cut a 10-2 deficit to 10-6 with three runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and two in the ninth on Tyler Saladino’s homer.
But scrapping will only get you so far. They’ve lost 23 of their last 32, and whatever battling they’ve done this decade has got them nowhere in their own division.
The Sox fell to 32-33 while the Tigers improved to 33-31. Chris Sale pitches for the Sox against the Tigers’ Mike Pelfrey in the rubber game of the series Wednesday night.